I have already read a handful of Mark Batterson’s books, so I heard about this one, I was excited. I even got onto the launch team for this book. Unfortunately, I was preoccupied during the launch campaign and forgot to pay attention to the release date. Eventually, the book completely left my mind, even as I had a copy sitting on my shelf. Then late this spring, I noticed a campaign his publisher was running to give anyone who had purchased the book a free autographed sticker to make their book an autographed copy. To my surprise, not only did I get the autographed sticker, but a few months later, I won a drawing to receive 8 more of his books for free! After this experience, I knew it was time I made time to read and review this book. In the end, I found that this book is definitely another win for Mark Batterson, especially for any of his readers that want to “win the day.” ~ Bethel Many of us have dreams we want to pursue, but we don’t know where to start. We struggle with figuring out how to get where we want to be because we are stuck doing the same thing we have always done. We set goals only to see them fail. Even most New Year’s Resolutions fail before the end of the first month. As a result, so many of us are unable to live our lives to the fullest, since we are stuck in an endless cycle of dreams or goals that seem elusive to achieve. We often feel like failures, which leaves us feeling even more stuck than when we started. It makes us ask the question: is there a way to accomplish more so we can see our goals to their completion? In his book, Win the Day, Mark Batterson helps you build or break the habits that are holding you back and achieve your God-sized goals, starting with asking a simple question: can you do it for a day? Seeing how many people fail at the goals there desire to achieve, Batterson shares seven creatively-titled habits to help us “win the day”. By “flipping the script”, we will change our perceptions of our life’s story that may be holding us back. Through “kissing the wave”, we learn to see the difficult parts of our past as the way to move forward. When we “eat the frog”, we choose to do the hard things and trust God to do what only He can do. If we “fly the kite”, we do little things as diligently as the big things. Choosing to “cut the rope” will allow you to avoid playing it safe and take calculated risks that can lead to the biggest rewards. “Winding the clock” is choosing to make the most of every minute and every moment. And “seeding the cloud” is taking actions today that will produce your desired outcomes in the future. All of these principles are shared in the context of powerful and sometimes humorous illustrations, either from history or from the author’s personal life. This book is powerful and relevant to practically any person who would read it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Get your copy today! To check out more reviews of book by Mark Batterson, click here
To check a review of Levi Lusko's book I Declare War, click here
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When I heard that Levi Lusko was releasing a new book, I was so excited. I would consider him to be one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to purchase the book. However, it wasn’t until the book arrived at my doorstep that I realized how vast this book is. The other titles he released were more the less average length for Christian non-fiction and sold in paperback, while this title was only available in hardcover and was over 400 pages. When I finally sat down to read the book, I was in awe of how so many aspects of the space program and man’s attempts to go to the moon could connect back to Jesus’ death on the cross and our struggles to overcome our battles with our sinful nature. This is a book I can’t recommend enough ~ Bethel So many of us struggle with the age-old battle of person versus self. There are so many places in our hearts and minds that seem as impossible to redeem as outer space itself. We long to be happy and feel fulfilled, but it seems elusive when these dark corners of our inner selves rear their ugly head. Many of us are unsure if we will ever find happiness or if our inner self can ever be conquered. It makes us ask the question: how are we supposed to conquer our inner space? In his book The Last Supper on the Moon, Levi Lusko helps his readers discover how to conquer their inner space using surprising but insightful parallels between outer space and the moon landing in 1969. Starting with the story of astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking Holy Communion on the moon, Lusko creatively weaves a powerful connection between the mission to the moon, Christ’s death on the cross, and how Christ’s death impacts our ability to overcome our most personal struggles. Through a book of over 400 pages, Lusko takes his time driving deep into the details surrounding the moon landing, including the challenge from President Kennedy to get the moon before the end of the decade and the previous Apollo missions that enabled Apollo 11 to make its historic lunar landing. But beyond just sharing NASA history, he also takes time to examine the seven statements that Jesus made while he was on the cross as well as the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation and some of the Psalms. Tying all of it together with some powerful biblical truths and some personal illustrations from his life and family, this book provides inspiration from an unexpected source. While the trip to get to the “moon and back” is lengthier than it is for most books of this type, it is certainly a trip worth taking. If you allow yourself to take these truths to heart, you will never look at the moon the same way again. I also used the audiobook book while reading the print book of this title and have to say that I really enjoyed it. There are a few aspects of the audiobook that make it unique. First, they inserted actual audio recordings from different space missions as well as a few of President Kennedy’s speeches. Second, Levi Lusko’s wife Jennie reads some parts of the book, such as the “Conquer Your Inner Space” sections as well as the letters to the churches in Revelation. Lastly, there are a few places in which Lusko himself adds additional stories or context that is not seen in the print book. Although there were sections of the audiobook that didn’t match with the print book, all of the unique aspects made for a great listening experience. If you like audiobooks, this one I highly recommend. Audiobook Rating. The only thing I had an issue with was the inconsistency between the print book and the audiobook. While the supplementary parts were great, some sections almost sounded like it was recorded before the final edit was complete (Some words were omitted, some words were added, and some words were different). If you are just listening, this won’t be an issue, but since I was listening while reading, it was rather distracting in some sections. Other than this, I enjoyed the audiobook very much and would still recommend it. I was not familiar with this author when I first heard about this book, but once I heard what it was about, I knew I had to read it. I enjoyed this book as it reminded me of things that I have learned through my own trials and suffering, especially when it talked about bearing fruit during our most difficult circumstances. While most people do not think this way, I am learning what it means to be thankful, not despite the trials, but because of them. I was so grateful for the chance to be a part of the book’s launch team and look forward to reading more by this author in the future ~ Bethel We all go through difficult circumstances and suffering. This fact was magnified and brought to the forefront by the 2020 pandemic. No matter the size or difficulty of the circumstance, suffering, pain, fear, worry, and uncertainty are all part of life, whether we like it or not. When it hits us unexpectedly, we often don’t know what to do and begin to feel overwhelmed. Some let the fear and worry consume their time and thoughts. Over let their pain harden them through anger and hatred. Others will isolate from others. None of these responses are healthy and tend to push us further away from a solution. For Christians, while we know that we have hope in Jesus, we often struggle to trust Him completely, especially when life is a mess. It makes us ask the question: how do we make it through our struggles when life is hard? In his book You’re Gonna Make It, Daniel Fusco walks through what it looks like to unlock resilience and hold onto hope in the middle of suffering, worry, stress, and difficult circumstances. Using Scriptures like the book of Job, Isaiah 40:31, and some of the Psalms, Fusco reminds his readers that the Lord can become the source of our hope and strength during our greatest times of uncertainty and suffering if we look “upward, inward, and outward.” In fact, hope is found in the person who embodies hope and that person is Jesus Christ. If we choose to trust him through our troubles, we will find our resilience and bear fruit through them. This book has the same hope and grit that the author encourages his audience to find. Compelling and powerful, this is a book that any Christian would find encouragement from reading, especially in a post-pandemic world. * I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review To read more about how I learned to unlock resilience through difficult circumstances, click here.
To read my review about another great book on this subject, Through the Eyes of a Lion, click here. I was so excited when I heard that Caleb Kaltenbach was going to be releasing another book on the topic of handling LGBTQ discussions and issues within the church. I was so encouraged and impacted by his first book Messy Grace that I knew I had to read this one. In the end, I found this book to be just as good and is a fantastic companion to Messy Grace. Speaking from his experience of being raised by gay parents, becoming a pastor, maintaining his convictions about the biblical definition of marriage, and still making how to love others and foster community with those who disagree with him, there is a wealth of wisdom to be gained from this book. Besides all this, I have to give him extra brownie points since he graduated from my alma mater, Ozark Christian College. If you read the first book, this one is a must-read. If you haven’t read either book, I highly recommend both of them together ~ Bethel Living our lives in light of the truth can sometimes be messy. This is because we live in a world that at best undervalues the truth and at worst is dismissive of any form of objective truth. This can make it difficult for those that embrace truth to build community with those that only embrace truth subjectively. This principle is proven true when observing the LGBTQ community and its activists. Finding ways to walk the tightrope of balancing grace and truth for Christians towards these individuals is a journey that too few Christians and churches have embarked upon and those that do are often left with more questions than answers. It makes us ask the question: how do we build influence and an inclusive community without sacrificing our convictions? In his book Messy Truth, Caleb Kaltenbach walks through ways in which Christians and church leaders can build inclusive communities without sacrificing theological convictions. Speaking from experience of years of pastoral work, Kaltenbach acknowledges the difficulties of balancing grace and truth and concludes that it is necessary to build the community and influence we need to reach those that need Christ’s love. We are reminded that more than our stances on the biblical definition of marriage or any other theological convictions, we need to see everything we meet those the lens of value they have as an image-bearer of God that Christ died to redeem, and that knowing their value should dictate how we treat them. We learn that we need to be willing to surrender all of our convictions and personal views to align with Christ, even if we disagree with Him. With these principles as the foundation, we can start using our influence to make our churches into places where the people we disagree with belong by acknowledging their experiences and learning to empathize with them. This will put you in the best position to walk alongside those who may be walking away from sinful choices or to confront them in a God-honoring way. The principles on how to prepare for and facilitate discussions are insightful and practical, regardless of the type of difficult conversation you are facing. This book needs to become a significant part of the conversation on how to unify churches when people disagree, not just about LGBTQ issues, but about any issue that has the potential to divide us. I was encouraged, impacted, and challenged by this book, and I believe you will be too. Get your copy today! To read my review of Caleb’s first book, Messy Grace, click here. Have a Christian non-fiction book you would like to see reviewed? Then review the requirements and submit a review request by clicking here I was quite excited to hear about the publication of this resource. I became aware of 40 Days for Life and their resources when I first watched the movie Unplanned. After some research, I can to have a lot of respect for this organization and what they do. So when I had the opportunity to read this book through a free trial for Kindle Unlimited, I was excited to read it. This is a great resource addressing many of the flaws in the pro-choice movement. I think this book should be on the shelf of anyone who claims to be pro-life ~ Bethel Abortion is one of the most controversial topics in American culture. When it comes us in discussion between people that disagree, it has the potential to destroy relationships and reputations. Those that support the pro-life cause struggle with knowing how to engage in discussions with someone pro-choice because of the vigor and repetitiveness of the arguments. Many who believe are pro-life are held back from the discussion by fear, while others don’t hold back and end up doing more harm than good by the methods they use in their discussion. It makes us ask the question: what should I say when someone tries to defend abortion? In their book What to Say When, author Shawn Carney and Steve Karlen walk pro-life supporters through intentional and grace-filled ways to address many of the most popular arguments in favor of abortion. With years of experience and diligent research, the authors break through the harmful rhetoric of the pro-choice movement and give their readers practical and straightforward tools and insights on how they can bring the discussion about abortion back to the reality of what this procedure does: kill a living baby. You will quickly find that many of pro-choice tactics are become distractions to change the subject, because modern medical knowledge and technology is making it harder and harder for anyone to deny the viability of an unborn child. This book will strengthen any pro-lifer’s resolve by giving them the resources they need to stand on the truth of value of all human life, not matter what way a discussion turns out. This book is well-written and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to speak up for the pro-life cause. Get your copy today! |
Lion's Eyes Reviews is a blog dedicated to reviews of Christian books, most of which are non-fiction, but may also occasionally review movies and musicals. It will also feature the work Bethel does to help launch and promote the works of Christian authors.
The name is derived from one of Bethel's favorite books, Through the Eyes of a Lion by Levi Lusko. Through these reviews, Bethel hope to give Christians the tools they need to look at the world "through the eyes of a lion" so they can find the courage to "run toward the roar". To find the detailed archives of these reviews, you can check them out here: Books In Review Movies in Review Broadway In Review Quick Reviews To understand the rating used in these reviews, click here Categories
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Bethel Grove is a Christian young woman who loves to read and write, eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards, and disciple teen girls as a youth leader. What started as a hobby of writing book reviews and doing deep biblical studies eventually led her down the path of self-publishing and helping other Christian authors launch their books. She hopes to someday be a vocational youth minister and well-known author.
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